PLYMOUTH, MI – kicking off a weekend home and home series the Lumberjacks (6-2-0-0, 12 pts.) travelled to the east side of Michigan to take on the USA Hockey National Team Development Program's Under-17 team (4-6-0-0, 8 pts.). Three different Jacks scored their first goal of the season in the 5-2 win.
Muskegon opened the scoring at the 7:01 mark of the first period while on the powerplay.
Matvei Gridin (Kurgan, RUS.) the goal scorer was the beneficiary of strong puck movement in the offensive zone.
Easton Young (Grand Rapids, MN) and
Jack Galanek (Hopkinton, MA) picked up the assists on Gridin's team leading 7
th goal of the season.
The 17s evened the score moments later while on a powerplay of their own. LJ Mooney carried the puck into the offensive zone while on a 3-on-1 and fired a shot over the shoulder of
Lukas Swedin (Stockholm, SWE) for his second goal in the USHL this season. Charlie Trethewey picked up the assist on the powerplay tally.
The second period went the way of the Jacks with a pair of goals scored by defenseman to take a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. First, at the 10:58 mark of the frame Young scored his first goal of the season by finding a puck in the middle of the slot and firing it to the back of the net. New addition
Filip Nordberg (Stockholm, SWE) picked up the assist, and later scored his first USHL goal to extend the lead. Nordberg got a pass from
Sam Spehar (Chaska, MN) at the blueline, and was able to find a shooting lane to beat the NTDP netminder from distance. Young was credited with the secondary assist for his third point of the night.
Jack Murtagh opened the scoring in the third period with his first career USHL goal at the 8:28 mark by converting on a mini breakaway set up by Andrew O'Neill and Carter Amico. From there the Jacks scored a pair of empty net goals. The first one came with just under 2 minutes to play from
Hunter Anderson (Manhattan Beach, CA).
Ty Henricks (Mission Viejo, CA) picked up the assist. Then, with 15 seconds left
Teddy Spitznagel (New York, NY) found the back of an empty net for his first goal of the season. Spehar and
Xavier Veilleux (L'ancienne-Lorette, QC, CAN) had the assists.
Swedin (3-1-0-0) started and played all 60 minutes to earn his third win of the season. He made 15 saves on 17 shots in the process. Patrick Quinlan (0-2-0-0) was peppered by the Jacks with 36 shots, and earns the loss for the NTDP.
The teams close out the weekend home and home series tomorrow night Saturday, September 21
st. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm at Trinity Health Arena. For tickets visit MuskegonLumberjacks.com or visit the box office located inside the VanDyke Mortgage Convention Center on gameday.
Can't make it to the game? We've got you covered! FloHockey is the official live stream partner of the USHL, and a free radio broadcast of every Lumberjacks game is available on the Lumberjacks Hockey Network on Mixlr.
